winter shelter

we'll get our first freeze tonight, so naturally, i was out there right up until dark, knocking together a lean to for billygoat and companion dog. the girl goats have so many places to go it's ridiculous. of course, all they want is to hang out on my porch.

but billy is a newer addition and though he has a good area, he does get the wind right off the meadow. being a super furry billygoat i doubt he will even look twice at the shelter, except possbily to get up in the middle of the night and tear it down by morning. i guess his previous job was in construction. or, destruction. and the dog is so furry that when he is inside with the heat on, he goes and sits on the front step.

BUT, i am a mommy at heart, so i pulled all the old funky wood that came with the place into their yard which was difficult as uh, heck. left my puffer (inhaler) somewhere, too.

but after many breaks, i got it put together. it looks like, from what i can gather, i've used the remnants from someone's swingset from long ago, an old chicken coop and then goodness only knows what. i couldn't find my hammer and i knew if i went to the hardware store or even to a neighbors i would lose my gumption and just go, hey, it's getting cold and windy. hmm. a nice cup of tea inside would be nice.

so, i used my sledge hammer which i have a hard time lifting not to menition swinging. but i did it.

came in side and hung up side down off couch to get my back somewhat back shaped again. my wrists, well, like an idiot i'm typing. but not for long.

then, after another break, i hauled the old stained futon i let the dog sleep on under the lean to. again, the billy goat will be like uh, yeah. what is THIS about. (though the more refined girls enjoy a recliner on my porch. lol.) but the dog, i know, will be on the futon.

it's is not a pretty shelter but, hey, it is a shelter. and i built it.

now i've got to go to sleep so taht when i wake up on thanksgiving and the billygoat has torn it down overnight taht i will have had enough sleep so that i can use the sledgehammer real good on him.

i am tickled that people ask that on this board, but i don't have a camera.

billy is a goat the color of a golden retriever. well, a retriever with horns and the smell of, well, goat cologne. his eyes are brown and he is more gentle than most boy goats, but does enjoy the ladies and don't get the in way. occasionally, he has to be wrassled to the ground a la steers to get him to get the idea that goring the nice lady who feeds him is just not in his best interest. he loves his companion dog, a red heeler, who he whines for when she goes for a walk.

the shelter, well, wow. think hobo makeshift campsite at a railyard. well, drunk blind hobo campsite. who is cold and just wants to go to sleep. then you'll get the idea.

i just basically nailed two longer boards from a swingset up to my wood fence at an angle to make a triangle frame. then nailed boards of various shapes ontop of it and on the windy side as a windbreak. then, there is a old futon in there that looks like it has been sitting out in the dirt and elements because well, it has.

okay i went out this morning. there was no large scale desctruciont. just one of the boards i hadn't gotten nailed in place good anyway. i was thinking, and i know this is silly, of painting it. like somehow it would make my hobo shack better to look at it each day. like bright and silly. we'll see if i can do taht before dinner time. the water didn't freeze in the pond over night, so i might be able to get some paint to stick on the wood. or maybe not. we'll see.

it started to rain tonight after i got home. the billy goat went right in his new shelter like a champ. (it is the desert so this is the first rain since i've had him, about a month.) the dog with all his furriness, whined like it was noah's ark time. i looked out the window and the duck and geese were in the yard asleep. oh, my.

then, i got locked out of the house chekcing on the dog and feeling sorry for him. had to climb back in the window. seriously.

IN CASE the billygoat was bullying when i didn't see it and not letting the idiot dog in the shelter, i took one of those large plastic containers, stuck a pillow in it, put the lid on, and turned it upside down and cut a hole in it. cut my finger in the process. ow.

but there you go an instant dog house with not only a floor but a pillow inside. could not get the dog to go inside. but, now i am warm inside drinking tea knowing that he has TWO options whether or not the billy is letitng him in the bigger structure or he is just being a sissy.

thank you. his whininess subsided but it was breaking my heart. i peeped out threre and i coud see him in the goat shelter, so can't tell if the goat went out and left him there or they were sharing. well, if the darned thing had electiricty, then i would just know. lol

okay. now it is snowing of real. not just rain snow rain. went and found what i couldnt' find last night. old tarp. put old blanket over futon cause it was moist from the weather even though molstly inisde lean to. then nailed tarp all over lean to on all sides with open flap on open side away from wind. billy goat went RIGHT in there as soon as i was finished. dog still had hopes i might bring him in.

they are more than a foot off ground with futon mattress doubled over, they are protected by a really crappy hobo lean to and now with the tarp, well, hey, it's the hyatt regency tonight. .

dog has now realized his fate and has been in shelter for a couple hours with billygoat. he had a chance orignally of being an inside dog (stray) but after eating my GLASESS and my cellphone, he too expensive for inside dog. now, he's goat friend. but he still gets played with a lot. maybe if there is more wood i can expand his shelter tomorrow. oh, who am i fooling. they are fine.